key performance indicator

Definition

A metric supposedly measuring what matters, inevitably gaming behavior as people optimize for the KPI rather than actual success. Commonly abbreviated to KPI by people who measure many things and understand few.

Example Usage

Our KPI is customer satisfaction scores, which is why we now bribe customers to rate us highly.

Origin

Management theory from the 1980s-90s, part of performance measurement frameworks

Fun Fact

Goodhart's Law states that 'when a measure becomes a target, it ceases to be a good measure'—a lesson KPI-obsessed managers never learn.

Source: Performance management and business analytics terminology

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The corporate comfort blanket meaning something has been organized, arranged, or given a framework instead of operating like a chaotic fever dream. Business types deploy this to describe everything from data to meetings to finance products that have rules and hierarchies. It's code for "we thought about this for more than five minutes and made some boxes to put things in."

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agent

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implements

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💼 Corporate / Business

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